It is a small village in the kecamatan of Tambusai, Kabupaten Rokan Hulu in the Province of Riau, Sumatra. During the Padri Wars of 1830's , Tuanku Tambusai (aka known as Fakeh Hj Muhammad Salleh ) fought the Dutch forces together with Imam Bonjol and Tuanku Rao in West Sumatra and in Northern Sumatra .The last defence was in Benteng 7 Lapis,Daludalu which fell in 1838. He escaped capture and came to Malaya. He was buried in Rasah in 1882.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
In Denial Syndrome
When I came across the Star's headline on Friday 28 May 2010, I thought what Idris Jala said at the KL Convention Centre is a wake-up call for the Nation when he said if nothing is done to close the budget deficit the country would end up like another Greece by the year 2019. What shocked the people is on the very same day the PM was asked to comment on the revelation, he stated that it is just a projection. What sheer nonsense is happening in this country whereby the PM is downplaying the findings of his own Minister who is obviously bent on saving the country from bankruptcy but the stark forebodings seemed to be ignored more or less by his numero uno. This is a sheer example of the PM being in-denial of the truth. Idris Jala is a technocrat and he does not politicise the hard facts, but not his boss, and it would not be long that his famous labs which are aimed at turning the country around would be redundant. The scenario could be somewhat be compared to the Roman Emperor who fiddled while Rome was burning. Poor Idris Jala, now his credibility as the Minister in charge of the GTP is in question. Being a raw Member of the administration he thought what he did was the right thing, perhaps he forgot to abide by the other maxim, that is it should be revealed at the right time and at the right place. Now we can expect the uproar amongst public in response to the coming crunch which would be likely to be translated into votes for the next GE. Little wonder that the foreign PR consultant had been hired to deal with such eventualities where damage control mode now is in operation. We will see what happens after this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Dear Hal,
You have pointed out a classic case. One (Idris')is utterred in the context of a resolution perceived with dire consequences to the people and country. The other a resolution perceived with dire consequences to the party and survival.
Both are equally important to each. How the resolution is acted upon will be determined by the one who calls the shot. Even then, when it is called for action will depend on how other more pressing matters need resolution first. There's a lot on the PM's plate.For the moment it looked like he's brushing it off.
My take is he's just putting it to the backburner but he is just as distressed. The only thing to consider is whether Idris had misjudged (not timing as he is not privy to national goings-on to make a judgement) but whether he had mistepped ( more of what he can say without clearance) He may have got clearance but looks like he didn't.
Blogosphere however tends to judge the PM's perceived reaction or even inaction expecting all on his plate need (not just attention for now ) but action.
Worst when comments from bloggers were tainted with political motives that whatever is decided is not good.
This is the work of the cyber troopers ( who are paid apparently) to pounce on any issue facing the govt.with adverse comments and nothing else.
Dear Hank,
As concerned citizens, we ought to place the country's survival above partisan politics. Our grandchildren and great grandchildren will curse our generation for failing to stop the political conundrum that is going to wreck the nation's future. We do not want to see this country becoming the slave of the rich countries in time to come.
I have already commented on your entry, Akhi AHS but it seems lost (or removed). But what I said seems better covered by Dr M in todays paper NST Mqy 30. p,13. The RM362b. debt and RM47b. deficit is no projection but real as is the RM74 b. subsidy per year.
As DRm said the subsidy must be" withdrawn GRADUALLY" and "govt. must ensure that people would have a higher income" (sic). The withdrawl o the subsidy will cause the price of consumer goods to go up. No negation of this will stop the inevitable,
Akhi Norzah,
Thanks for the posting. The posting which I removed was a double posting by Hank and he included his password in it. So it's not your posting. Somehow things do get lost in posting and it had happened to me too.
The bitter pill has to be swallowed by the people unless we want to see that we become insolvent. How it is done is a matter of strategy and timing. If we wait too long, the urgency of the matter would be lost in the background since our people have short memory.
How true. Cutting the subidy can be started right away. But can income be increased in readiness for the increase in prices of goods, Unless govt can control that as well, hehehe.
Akhi Norzah,
Increase in income can only be done if there is an increase in productivity. Unfortunately our performance on productivity is amongst the lowest in this region and since we are afflicted by the Dutch disease we have been living beyond our means.The oft repeated mistakes as evidenced in the Auditor-General's report seemed to indicate that we are tolerating wrongdoers.
Our politicians seemed oblivious to the dire consequences of too much money chasing too few goods if increase in income does not match with increased productivity. We are likely to become another PIGS.
I hope we don't backslide into PIGS position, Akhi,for the Malays will be the worst off. Sawah padi dah tak dikerjakan lagi, berkebun malas, cili api, kunyit, kelapa dll semu kena beli. Bila subsidi dipotong harga barang dijangka naik 4% saja. Tapi kalau teh tarik dah RM1.50
secawan, nasi bungkus RM1.80 tak taulah apa nak jadi.Kalau kerajaan takleh bayar gaji lagi, semua orang Melayu kena balik kg tanam kacang. Pencen pun akan susut atau lebur. Golaplah dunia.
Akhi Norzah,
At least you still have the house in Ulu Bendol and you could plant "ubi kayu" around it. But I do not have that luxury because Adat Perpateh says "Tanah Pusako" dikampong could only be passed on to the women.
The only "tanah" I have is around my house, which is covered by grass fit for the cows. Bila dunia jadi golap, kito pun lolap lah..
Post a Comment